Monthly Archives: May 2007

Every time I heard this stupid Rockville Savings Bank on the radio, I mean to write something about it, then forget. Today, I remembered.

This ad begins with a Chinese-sounding woman saying “E All You Can E,” the meaning of which is open to interpretation.

Then we get a male announcer touting the bank’s electronic banking service.

I still don’t know what the “E All You Can E” is supposed to stand for, but the decision to have it said by an altogether different person in convoluted English is clearly racist. It adds nothing at all to the ad except some kind of stereotypical mangled English by an Asian woman, kind of like the old “no tickee, no laundry” talk that I thought vanished generations ago.

I want Rockville Savings Bank to know that I find the ad thoroughly offensive and I suspect I’m not alone. They should stop airing it.

They’re getting set up for the hordes in the Center, with tents and rides ready to roll. It’s always a great time and this year will be no exception, though parking will be tighter. Plan on walking if you can. For all the information about the event, check out its website.

Today’s story lets us know that one of the two parking garages is open – though not to the public yet – but the Healthtrax fitness club and the Hartford Hospital building are a little behind schedule (which explains why I’ve seen ads for the Healthtrax club before it’s open). The Nov. 1 opening for much of it remains on track, however.

WTNH television reports that a bear was spotted today near the American School for the Deaf on North Main Street. Police searched for it, the tv station reported, but didn’t find the animal.
A bear was seen over the weekend behind Westfarms Mall as well, the report said, though perhaps it’s the same one.

I finally got a chance to catch up on the William DiBella saga today — and was shocked to find he’d survived a vote of no confidence at the Metropolitan District Commission last week, according to a story in the Journal Inquirer.

DiBella, who’s been involved with the MDC for three decades, was found liable by a jury recently “on all counts of aiding and abetting in a 1998 state pension investment scheme, in which he was paid a $374,500 “finder’s fee” for a few minutes of work,” the paper reported. “The federal Securities & Exchange Commission filed the civil suit in 2004, accusing DiBella of violating federal securities laws in taking the finder’s fee in a $75 million pension investment. Others connected to the investment already have served jail time or paid fines,” the story added.

Not surprisingly, some of the MDC commissioners thought DiBella shouldn’t be the regional sewer and water authority’s chairman after getting nailed in federal court.

They asked for a vote of no confidence, which DiBella survived on a 16-11 vote. Another vote, calling on him to resign, fell short on a 17-10 vote, according to the JI’s story. I don’t know why someone would say they have no confidence in DiBella but not ask him to resign, but that’s a separate issue.

“Why doesn’t the whole commission stand up and say this is enough?” asked Republican commissioner Jeffrey Wright, who led the charge against DiBella, the paper reported. The GOP members opposed DiBella, a former legislative big shot.

The Democratic commissioners mostly hemmed and hawed that they needed more information and time.

“If I thought I was damaging this organization, I would step down,” DiBella told the MDC, according to the JI. “I think this was premature at best, and at worst, truly politically motivated.”

Well, Mr. DiBella, if you don’t think this is damaging to the MDC, you’re utterly blind. It’s a terrible message to have a major government organization that’s about to engage in a gigantic sewer project to have as its leader a man who just got slapped around in court. It raises all sorts of troubling concerns, perhaps without any justification.

But if DiBella is half the man his supporters say he is, he’ll resign rather than let this turn into a circus. If he cares about the MDC and the region, he’ll step down quickly.

At the hearing last night, the Board of Education heard lots of ideas for paring the proposed budget, according to today’s story in The Hartford Courant.

“Hall junior Alex Porter suggested reducing the school year by four days to trim costs,” reporter Fulvio Cativo wrote in his story. He added that school board members said that’s an idea that’s being explored.

Board members “said they would consider eliminating curriculum specialists, cutting the funds for conferences and meetings and discontinuing Norfeldt School’s magnet program,” the story reported.

Bruce Putterman, one of the school board members, said cutting all-day kindergarten is not on the table unless the referendum leads to a defeat for the budget.

Theresa McGrath, of the West Hartford Taxpayers Association, warned, “This is not the year to play politics or scare tactics,” according to the paper. That’s almost funny.

But I especially liked this: “People don’t move to West Hartford for the tax breaks, they move to West Hartford for the education,” said Kiernan Majerus-Collins, one of two Bristow Middle School sixth-grade students, who asked the board to save the Quest gifted and talented program.